


Poisoned Grief

by Jairephix



Series: A More Careful Pen [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angus is a Blupjeans Baby, Taako lashes out because grief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 07:08:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17018067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jairephix/pseuds/Jairephix
Summary: Taako and Barry are looking for Lup's killer while running a show. How could this go wrong?---Part of A More Careful Pen AU! Prior reading of fics not required.





	Poisoned Grief

“Barry, I...I don’t know if I can keep doing this anymore.” Taako slumped onto the steps of the wagon, his head in his hands. “We haven’t gotten any answers, we haven’t gotten any leads...we’ve been doing this for, what? Three, four years already? How old’s Ango again?”

“Yeah, four.” The heavy-set man was keeping careful eyes on his son, the young boy running full tilt around the clearing in circles, laughing and making games with the low brushline around them. “Taako, you don’t normally get this bad. What’s wrong?”

The elf sighed, pulling his signature oversized hat off his head, his bobbed blond hair ruffled from the motion. The tiny braids throughout were starting to fray apart. Lup was the only one who could ever get his hair to stay nice in those little braids, and she was gone. “I don’t think we can keep doing this, not for work and still be able to look for answers. I can cook pretty well, and I know I’m fucking fantastic at it, but without her…” His voice grew thick with momentary grief. “There’s only so much I can do with just...just, y’know. Raw skill. We’re not getting any answers about where she went and...who took her.”

Barry glanced over at his brother-in-law. “This way? Just traveling and cooking, you mean? I thought this was the best plan we had?”

“Yeah, but we’ve talked about...other stuff.”

He stared, adjusting his thick glasses. “Taako, we’ve been over this. I love you like family--hell, you are family, and that’s why you gotta listen to me when I say you can’t. You can’t delve into that kind of sh--stuff. Especially not around Angus. I...I don’t want him exposed to that.”

“I know!” The wizard sighed, rubbing his face. “I...I know. I’m just...the show isn’t getting enough of an audience to make this survivable. If...if we’re not at the point of that yet, then...I don’t know, I guess I can try to make things...flashy? Use a bit of--” 

Heavy footsteps sounded in the woods near Angus, crashing steps breaking branches and crushing autumn leaves as they drew closer. Barry ran to grab Angus, drawing his wand as Taako stood. Neither of them wanted anything bad to happen to the little half-elf. The wizard was pleased to realize even in part that he didn't look nearly so blast-happy as the human man holding his confused little nephew, but then again Taako had spent too much of his life being on edge and ready to blast away his problems.

Lup had always been the rock that kept him from actually casting those spells. And now, when they hadn't really needed to defend themselves, she--

A young human man, one who didn't have the same aged weight behind his eyes that Barry and Taako did, stumbled through the brush. He pushed through one last shrub, staring at the wagon's side in awe. "I-I did it! I really did--I found you!"

"Kiddo," Taako started lightly, cramming his hat back on his head with a little more force than strictly necessary, "I suggest you explain yourself before my brother decides you're target practice." He didn't need to tell the newcomer that Barry didn't bother learning anything higher than cantrips. He had a young kid and got migraines when he tried to learn any magic more powerful than that, and really he should be focusing on raising the little boy, not staring at the world with pain shooting behind his eyes and all lights haloed in a painful glow.

"You...you're Taako!"

"Uh, yeah, the one and only, and this _is_ my wagon after all...Good job, A-plus, you can put that together."

"I...I was at your last show!" The elf hummed, nodding. That was true, he had been. The audience was so small that the few who appeared were instantly recognizable to him, even the old man who had been snoring and fast asleep on that bench when they had arrived to do the show. The old bastard never woke up during the rest of the performance, only coming to as the few people there were leaving.

"So why are you here?"

"I-I was wondering, um. If you...if you needed any...any help...?" The clearing fell silent for an awkward moment, as both sides waited for the other to speak.

"Yeah, the wagon's a bit full up, you see, with us two, and my nephew, sooooo...."

"O-Oh! I uh. I had some ideas, but I can also camp on my own! I can travel just fine!" He seemed so eager, Taako sighed gently to himself. It was hard to deny him at least the courtesy to listen. Sure, they probably couldn't afford to feed another mouth, and once this kid knew they were chasing a cold tail of a murderer, he might decide it's not so glamorous after all and go home. What harm could it possibly do? Besides, he understood that kind of honest energy. He was like that, once, with his sister at his side.

"Alright, hit me with those thoughts. What's your name?"

"I'm Sazed!"

\---

He did have some good ideas, after all.

The first of which was something Taako was planning on doing anyway: adding a magical flair to his performance. A little Prestidigitation for effect, some basic Transfiguration spells for flair. Combining that with the natural flair for the dramatic that the elf had been leaving out, worried it would come across too aggressively for the show, produced a more spectacular result. He watched as audiences grew, leaving plenty of tips. People started asking for recipes.

Sazed fell into a fantastic role as a merchandiser, designer, and planner. The wagon got a fresh coat of paint with a bigger design. T-shirts and aprons were created with the new logo. Meals were planned appropriate to the town's local culture, bringing in more interesting ingredients, new recipes and twists on old ones. As Sazed took over leading the wagon places, it freed up Taako more to play with his nephew and write out recipe books. Barry appreciated the rest, and used the time during shows to poke around the towns, trying to find any information whatsoever.

In less than two years, they were famous, even in the Underdark.

Rather, Taako was.

Things were good, even if they still had no lead on Lup's murderer.

"Right, where to next?" The elf tucked his hands into his trouser pockets, leaning forward over the familiar map. He wasn't sure where Barry had gotten it, but they had looked at the large circles drawn on it, some with ink filling them in, and knew it was what they had been using to try and find Lup. Neither was sure what the solid black circles meant, guessing that maybe Angus had thought it a coloring book at one point.

Barry tapped a circle between a few towns. "This one's closest. We can check here...there's a decent sized town. Might be able to get us a bit more of a lead. There's....there's not a lot of places we can really keep looking."

"I...I know. I'm just hoping that...it's been so long, maybe something will show up. Someone slips, and we find something, or just...just...Barry, we might need to--"

A rap on the door made them both look up, as Sazed opened the door. 'The horses are hitched. Where to?"

Taako glanced down at the map, then looked back up. "Glamour Springs."

\---

"Hey, uh. Taako, I was wondering. I...I know you've been teaching me how to cook, and I...uh. I was hoping..."

Taako looked up briefly from where he was preparing the ingredients for tonight's show. Everything had to just be right for tonight's show. "What's up?"

"Look. Listen, I've...I've really enjoyed working with you," _Lup wouldn't let him be this messy, c'mon Taako, wipe up the side of that bowl--_  "I think...I think that...what would be great is if we could co-host this now?" _She'd have already handed you that third garlic bulb, you need to get all the paper out of here now, it'll just flutter around all show and make you look messy--_ "Just like, shared credit. You're name's on the side, but what if--" _Shit, don't tear up now, you can't blame it on onions, you don't have cut onions in front of you, she's been gone--_ "Share the glory, you know? And we--"

Fuck, what was he even saying? "Hmm."

"We just...what...uh. What do you think? Just...the team-up...?"

"Uh. Yeah. Love it, rolls off the tongue, right? But, um." He could never partner up with someone who wasn't his twin, his sister, his balance, his other half, his heart. No one else cooked with him in that same fluid motion, that same synergy, that same smoothness. Anyone else would be a disappointment. They wouldn't be her. "I got all these t-shirts already that say Sizzle it up with Taako, and just--"

"I can get new t-shirts! I...I printed those for you, so I can just do new ones!"

Didn't this idiot human understand? He wasn't his sister. He wanted to replace her, he wanted to be the new her, and you can't just do that, no one could just be her, there's no way, he would never--

"That's just bad business, Sazed!" _Sure, okay, maybe his tone was too sharp, but he wanted to replace Lup, who would even try that?!_ "I-I would love to help you out--" _Just form your own knockoff, if you think--_ "Sizzle It Up with Taako is the brand! I-I mean, we'd have to throw all these in the...in the junkpile! And you can't just write on them. It's...It's mainly a merch thing." _It's not it's not it's not it's not you aren't her you aren't her, you aren't my SISTER--_ "I just...don't think it...it jives."

The wizard took a deep breath, trying to hide the shaking in his limbs by grabbing the jar of elderberries meant to go into this recipe a little too roughly. The glass clicked against the table too sharply. Maybe the jar cracked on the bottom. He'd look at it later. He was too shook up, too twitchy from the unintentional way Sazed was trying to replace someone he didn't know about. There was just so much tense silence between them.

"Okay." The human sighed. "Alright. I get it. I get it. Okay." Was it just Taako being tense and unable to relax, or was he speaking much shorter than usual? It was probably how riled up he was. It was all imagined.

"Do you? Do you get it? Because I don't want to have this conversation again. Just. No."

"No, it's locked in. Definitely. I. I got it, Taako."

"Excellent."

The door slamming shut behind him was louder than he expected. The elf wasn't expecting to flinch, suddenly reminded of relatives who didn't want them around, nor to look down at the back of his hands, not seeing the faded burns and shallow scars that marked the skin. The world was blurry, unclear in a way that was only through tears.

_Fuck. Lup, I need you._

\---

Two days. They had been running for two days, praying no one saw the side of the wagon, or would put two and two together. Barry was trying to hold them all together, glad that Angus had been taking a nap when it had all gone down. Two days, non-stop, as far away as they could travel.

Sazed had disappeared, leaving no trace of himself among their things.

Taako was a wreck. So many people, all of them...all of them...

He hadn't taste-tested it, like he usually did. Had he transmuted things wrong? Had he managed to fuck up that badly? What had he done, what had he done _what had he done what was wrong with him--_

"Taako. Taako, we...we gotta..." Barry's Stone of Farspeech gave off a small buzzing ring. The elf twitched, his ears pinning back out of terror. "Shit shit shit--sorry, shit..." He mashed his finger over a particular rune, picking it up. "Uh. Hello?"

"Barry? Oh, good." A familiar voice over the stone made them both relax. "Are you okay? All three of you?"

"Y-yeah."

"Good. We heard rumors up here," they both tensed again. What had been said? "You're all welcome here. I'll pull all the right strings, give you all a place to recover and lie low while we figure out what happened." There was a pause. "Taako, stop beating yourself up. You know you're a better spellcaster than that. We'll prove it."

"Thanks, Davenport." Barry smiled softly. "We'll see you soon."

"Of course."

\---

The Director buried his face into his hands. Taako was better than that. He would never slip up, no matter how distraught he was. Something else was going on. "Lucretia?" The gnome looked up, seeing the worry etched into her face. "Make sure we have funds going into researching what happened there."

"Of course, sir."


End file.
